Going Home
by Gwen Cooper Williams
Summary: Post 2x09. Gwen falls back into Owen's arms and realizes she'd rather be with him. Gwen/Owen. Also, the end of 2x06 never happened.


It took Gwen less than a month before she fell back into Owen's arms. They had had a particularly trying case to work on that week, one that involved children. Seeing the small child lying broken on the ground completely broke Gwen. She had hoped to someday have a child of her own, but knowing all the madness that was in the universe, she just wasn't sure she could. She backed away from the group sobbing at the sight and lost her lunch in a bush on the side of the clearing.

A warm hand reached around her and pulled her hair behind her head while she retched and sobbed. "Gwen? Are you alright?" It was Owen, come to check on her, his medical training kicking in as he passed her a water bottle and started checking her vital signs.

"I'm all right Owen. After nearly two years, I'm still not used to seeing something like that." She gestured towards the mutilated body, "Shouldn't you be over there? You're really going to let Jack get all the samples for you?"

He rubbed a hand up and down her back to try to sooth her. "Nah, he's fine. Figured you needed looking after more than a dead body. Besides, it'll be on my table soon enough for me to examine." He helped her stand and guided her over to the SUV. "Let's get you into the SUV and rehydrated," Owen could tell Gwen was about to protest that she had work to do at the scene. He placed a finger on her lips, "Shhh. Don't worry about it. Ianto will question the witnesses. Now, will you be alright sitting in here while I go back over there?" She nodded. Owen helped her into the backseat and told her to lie down if she started to feel light headed before heading back to help pack up the body.

Owen, Jack, and Ianto arrived back at the SUV, body bag hoisted over Owen's shoulder to find Gwen fast asleep across the backseat, dried tear tracks running down her face. Owen quickly got the corpse into the boot of the SUV and climbed into the backseat, gently lifting Gwen's head and placing it on his lap. He smoothed her hair down and reached for the water bottle he had left her with. Finding it empty, he smiled. _At least she listened to me for once. _

Back at the hub, Owen shocked everyone by carrying the sleeping Gwen into the hub and gently laying her down on the couch. He even went so far as to locate a blanket to cover her with.

"Aww, Owen, I didn't know you had it in you," Tosh said, moving to place a pillow under Gwen's head.

"Yeah, well, it's Gwen, innit? I'd have done the same for you, too. We're teammates, yeah?" Tosh knew that Owen wouldn't have done the same thing for her, so she just nodded. "What happened to her?"

"We, erm, found the child badly mutilated. I think Gwen might have gone into shock." Owen glanced down towards the Autopsy bay and gestured towards the table, where Ianto or Jack had already placed the child. "I'll be down there. Let me know if she wakes up. I'll need to check her over."

Tosh looked down. "Sure Owen." She sulked back to her workstation, but angled her screens so she could still keep an eye on Gwen.

Owen was just as grossed out as Gwen had been looking at the mutilated child. But, he was a doctor, and he had work to do. Several hours later he was staring at the projection on the wall, trying to solve the puzzle when Gwen came down the steps. Owen was glad he had removed the body to cold storage and cleaned up the table right away. Gwen climbed up on the table. "Tosh said you wanted to look me over?"

Owen turned around to look at her. "Yeah, wanted to make sure you were properly hydrated and there were no lasting effects." He walked over and started examining her. She shivered at his touch.

"Hmm. You look kind of cute in glasses. Why don't you wear them more often?"

"Gwen Williams, are you flirting with me?" He deliberately kept his voice free of emotions and used her married last name.

"Cooper," she corrected him. "I haven't decided if I'm changing my name yet."

"I see." Owen noticed her naked finger and reached down to run his hand lightly over the place where her rings should have been. "No rings, either? Already getting tired of marital _bliss_?"

Gwen's mouth went dry at his touch. "They-they're on my desk. I took them off for field work." She closed her eyes and didn't stop Owen from running his fingers over the exposed skin of her wrist and lower arm. Her lips parted slightly and she let out a soft moan.

Owen leaned in closely and harshly whispered in her ear, "You like that, Gwennie? How long has it been since you've been touched. Like. This." Owen punctuated each word with his fingers, trailing them over to her stomach and under the edge of her shirt.

She gasped and wrapped her legs around Owens waist to pull him closer. She felt his arousal through their pants and wiggled against it. Owen kissed a path from her ear to her throat, lightly nibbling and sucking. Gwen slid her hands under his shirt and over his back, raking her fingernails down his back lightly.

Owen stopped just short of kissing her, his lips hovering millimeters above hers. "Are you sure? There's no going back again. We do this again and there's no stopping this." God, he wanted her badly. Wanted to take her back to his flat, wanted to taste every inch of her.

She wanted him so badly. The things Owen could do with his hands... she groaned and stretched to kiss him. "Let's go to your flat," she said against his lips, "and keep the glasses on."

Owen lifted Gwen up off the table with her legs still wrapped around him. He gave her a quick kiss before lowering her legs back to the floor. She groaned at the loss of contact and he pulled her flush against him. Partly because he didn't want to let go, and partly to keep anyone from seeing how obviously turned on he was. "Get your purse." He lightly patted her on her backside as she walked off and he removed his lab coat to replace it with his leather jacket. He called up to Jack's office "I'm leaving!" and sent a message to Gwen's computer before he shut his down to tell her to meet him at his car. No sense letting the entire team know what they were doing, even if they did all suspect it.

Twenty minutes later they were riding the lift to his flat. He had her pressed against the wall of the lift, his hands roaming up and down her body. He even managed to slip one hand inside the front of her jeans and he fingered the skin right under the elastic of her panties.

As soon as they entered his flat they started taking off each other's clothing, leaving a trail to his bedroom. He gently pushed her down onto the bed and they spent the next three hours making love. They fell asleep with their arms and legs entwined, her head resting on his chest.

Gwen woke up several hours later to her stomach rumbling. She glanced over at the alarm clock and cursed silently when she saw the time. She untangled herself from Owen and reached for the first shirt she could find. It was one of Owen's button downs she remembered him wearing earlier in the week. She padded out into the kitchen to get a glass of water and decided to order them a pizza.

When Owen woke up he thought for sure Gwen had just left. Pulled one of Owen's tricks, as it were. But then he saw her bra on the floor and figured she wouldn't have left without it. He walked out into the living room naked to find Gwen curled up on the couch reading one of his many medical books. He snuck up behind her and kissed her neck. "Enjoying the book?"

"No, but well, you were sleeping." Gwen tossed the book aside and turned around so she could kiss him. "I think I like this better." Just then Owen's stomach chose that moment to rumble. Gwen chuckled. "Mine did that too. I went ahead and ordered us a pizza. Should be here in about a half an hour……" she trailed off.

"Mmmm, but I'm hungry now," he said unbuttoning the shirt Gwen had borrowed from him.

Fortunately, the couch couldn't be seen from the door, and Owen's boxers were lying nearby so when the doorbell rang they were able to answer it promptly. Owen grabbed twenty quid and passed it over to the delivery boy. "Keep it," he said taking the pizza and closing the door on the shocked delivery boy. He carried the pizza into his living room and put it down on the table. "Did you have to put the shirt back on? I like you better naked." Gwen laughed and grabbed a slice.

"So, what will you tell the husband this time?" Owen took a slice for himself and flopped on the other end of the couch. Gwen cringed.

"Nothing? What's there to tell him?"

Owen ran his hand up her leg. "Nothing to tell him? You aren't going to tell him that you're busy shagging me? Don't want him to know how much you enjoy it?"

"I didn't tell him last time." Owen raised his eyebrows at her, clearly remembering her asking for some retcon. "Well, alright. I sort of did. But I don't have to."

Owen looked a bit skeptical. "If you think you can keep this a secret." He rose from the sofa. "Come back to bed?"

As the weeks passed, Gwen spent more and more time in Owen's bed and less and less time in her own bed with Rhys. She only returned to her flat with Rhys it seemed to shower and change her clothing in the mornings before heading into work. Her marriage with Rhys had been reduced to text messages and notes taped to the fridge. A few times she remembered Jack's word about not letting it drift, but she put those thoughts out of her mind. Besides, it's not like Rhys knew she was shagging Owen. He thought she just had a lot of late nights at work and kept sleeping at the hub. At least, that's what she told him.

Rhys finally became frustrated with never seeing his wife, so he decided to take matters into his own hands and he called Jack. Jack, not wanting to cause problems for Gwen played along and told Rhys he would see what he could do about getting her home. Jack called Gwen into his office to talk to her.

"Gwen, I want to know what the hell is going on. Why doesn't your husband see you anymore? Why aren't you wearing your wedding rings?" Gwen glanced down at her hand. To be honest, she had forgotten she hadn't been wearing them. They were still sitting in her desk, where she had left them all those weeks ago.

"I…uh…"

"What did I tell you? Don't let it drift. You need to fix things with Rhys. Go home. Spend the evening with him. Hell, spend the whole weekend with him. I don't want to see you until Monday."

"No," Gwen said softly. Then stronger, "No Jack. I'm not going home."

"I believe I gave you an order."

"Fine. I'll leave, but I'm not going home." Gwen moved to stand up. She'd just go over to Owen's flat and let herself in to wait for him to be done here. She did that on occasion if she was finished before he was.

Jack grabbed her wrist. "Where are you going?"

"Owen's." She waited for the shock, for the hurt look to appear on Jack's face. Nothing. Just a disappointed look was thrown her way.

"Fine. But you need to deal with your husband sooner or later."

More weeks went past. Gwen and Owen were happily shagging the nights away, her still oblivious to her marriage, and Owen knowing that eventually it might have to end.

Finally, Gwen decided to go home after work with the promise of coming over to Owen's flat later. She was going to go home to talk to Rhys and tell him she didn't think they should stay married. Besides which, she had a sneaking suspicion she might be pregnant, and since Rhys knew they hadn't slept together in over two months she knew he'd know it wasn't his.

A strange car was parked in the second spot reserved for their flat, but Gwen didn't think anything of it. Probably one of his mates over for the evening. She heard laughter and glasses clinking from behind the front door. _I guess he decided to throw a party. Not that I blame him. I guess I'll just go pack an overnight bag and leave and tell him I'm working again._

She opened the door. Rhys was sitting at their table, candles lit, a bottle of wine chilling in a bucket and he was holding hands across the table with another woman. He looked up, startled. "Gwen! I, uh, thought you'd be at work." She glared at the blonde woman sitting at her table and just tugged on Rhys' arm, pulling him back to the bedroom. She shut the door quietly, and looked at his hands. He wasn't wearing his wedding band, either.

"Well, I guess this is it, then." She held out her wedding rings to him.

"Yeah. I guess. Look, Gwen, I'm really sorry. I wanted to tell you, but you were never around." Rhys looked at the ground. Gwen could tell that he was feeling guilty. He shouldn't, when she was the one who had been sleeping with Owen far longer than Rhys had probably been with the woman sitting in her kitchen.

"Don't be. Listen, I'm going to pack a few things and I'll be back sometime this week for the rest of my things. Don't worry about it. I'll….I'll have my lawyer contact you." Gwen wiped a tear from her eye. Even if she had been planning on breaking things off with Rhys, it still hurt.

She quickly gathered enough clothing to get her through a few days, and grabbed anything she would need for work. She knew Owen wouldn't mind her staying there. He always told her she should bring some things over to leave there, anyway.

She called Owen while she packed to let him know she was coming over sooner. "Owen, it's over. I'm coming over and bringing some of my stuff. Turns out Rhys met someone else, too. Can I stay with you for a few weeks? I'll need to find a new flat."

"Gwen, sweetheart, just move in with me."

"You sure? Won't that cramp your style a bit?" She silently pleaded _please say no_.

"Nah. Besides, I like having you around. Now get your cute arse over here so we can order dinner." He hung up the phone and dialed the number of their favourite Italian place, hoping to time its arrival with Gwen's.

Gwen smiled as she shouldered her overnight bag and walked out of her old flat and towards home, a new life, and a new love.


End file.
